1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supplying device which extracts carriers (carrying substrates) one at a time from a magazine and to a receiving device which inserts the carriers into the magazine one at a time.
2. Prior Art
In the prior art, die bonders and wire bonders (used to assemble semiconductor devices) utilize carriers which carry a multiple number of substrates positioned at equal intervals to send the substrates to a bonding area where processing is performed. Supplying devices, which supply carriers to the bonding area, and receiving devices, which accommodate the carriers (along with the substrates carried in the carriers) after processing has been completed in the bonding area, generally utilize magazines to hold the carrier in a stacked arrangement.
Conventional magazines have numerous guide grooves (into which the edges of the carriers are inserted) formed at regular intervals on the interior facing side walls so as to facilitate extraction and insertion of the carriers. Accordingly, in conventional supplying devices or receiving devices, the magazine is raised and lowered in steps corresponding to the pitch of the guide grooves. The carriers are then extracted or inserted along the guide grooves, thus facilitating extraction or insertion of the carriers.
However, since the above described conventional devices use magazines having guide grooves, a new magazine with a guide groove pitch corresponding to the height of the carriers must be used whenever the height of the carriers is changed. Accordingly, it is necessary to have an extremely large number of different types of magazines. Furthermore, the guide groove pitch of each magazine must be set so that a gap is left between adjacent carriers in the stack and accordingly, the number of carriers that can be held in the magazine is reduced.